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The Maps of Yosemite National Park, A Video

What can you glean from glancing at a map? If it's a road map, folks will look for routes to their destinations, interesting sidetrips, population centers. Topographical maps can provide rich details of landscapes and help us navigate through them.

In this episode from Yosemite Nature Notes, Producer Steven M. Bumgardner, aka Yosemite Steve, introduces us to the map wonders of Yosemite National Park. There's even a cameo appearance by Ken Burns!

In the blurb promoting this video, Yosemite Steve points out that "(W)hen Joseph Walker passed through in 1833, there were none, but today, thousands of maps portray Yosemite National Park. From a land grant created during the Civil War, to modern computer mapping, these maps also tell the story of the protection of Yosemite."

The video runs 9:30, but it's worth the watch. In it you'll glimpse maps of ancient glaciers of Yosemite, old maps of the Yosemite Valley, and, of course, trail maps.

Comments

Kurt, thanks so much for highlighting this video. As a young Scout in Australia I used to spend hours studying maps, digesting the spatial representations that came to life when I actually hiked or camped in the areas that related to the maps. It's something I still do now but I now I also enjoy using Google Earth which adds the third dimension to the map. I didn't realise there were others who had a similar interest.

The historical perspective was also most interesting, in particular how the original boundaries were drawn and changed due to the discovery of mineral wealth in the area.